The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-15

| man slowly descended the mountain, toward
the city below He made bis way directly
| to the French outposts-
"Qui vive"' cried . sentinel.
| The man replied:
81 want to see the general about some
| thing
And q few moments after, escorted by h
sergeant and two soldiers, the man was
conducted into the presence Of Gen. Vally,
who had suddenly awakened with a start
| He had imagined a sudden alarm-had
dreamed that Corchuelo's band had been
| reformed and had invaded San Gael.
| ''Who are your he asked.
II want to talk TO you about Corchuelo."
| ''Ah! Corchuelo. Here is at least tho
| tenth party who promises to deliver up the
rascal. And not one of them knows where
| he is. !"
| Il know"
| That's what they all sayr' cried the
more of it. Sergeant, take this man to the
| guardhouse, and lock him up for the night"
| II know where Corchuelo is, " reiterated
the Spaniard with vehemence. PAY me
twenty napoleons, and he's yours!''
"You can have fifty if you tell the
\ truth. But here, remember this: il you
try to deceive me, fall to deliver up the
brigand, you shall be punished; I'll have
you put in jail. -
IAN right, 4" replied the man, with a smile
of dselain.
We'll, then, where is he,-tell mer'
! The Spaniard put out his hand, and ex-
planned that he wanted to have the gold
first, and to be allowed to deposit 1t in .
place Of safety;-they could send as many
soldiers with him as they pleased Then he
would deliver up Corchuelo-not before.
The general shouted, swore, stormed,
threatened, refused and finally accepted the
terms, finding himself conquered by the OBJ
| stinacy of the mysterious informer, who
| appeared sure of himself. He paid him
down the promised sum, sent a strong
force of men to accompany him, and
awaited the result with impotence
Internal rascals, these Spaniardsr' he
muttered, pulling away at his pipe with
fury. For a miserable 900 francsI After
ALL that Corchuelo is a brave fellow! In
fernal scoundrels,''
An hour afterward the escort returned,
and drew up in order before the general
The Spaniard advanced
well, you've hidden your gold, ehs'
said Vally in a sneering tone. Afraid it
might be taken away from you again, little
Judas, eha And Corcheulo.''
The man shrugged his shoulders, spit ON
the ground, stuck his hands into his pock-
cts, and then simply observed-looking
away into vacancy as il he did not really
| know what he was saying:
| I'm the man. J"
Utterly dumfounded, and hardly know
ing what to say himself, Vally first ex-
claimed, 'Ahr'-then, with a burst of
laughter he roared out:
''You are making game of me, you infer
nal scamp
You have my description" said tho
man who called himself Corchuelo- ''See
for yourself. Look; here's the scar Of the
wound in the arm that got the other day;
and here, on my breast, il my name, ia
tooed by the San Gael blacksmith IL that
doesn't satisfy you, You can ask any OF the
people ronnd here"
And he exposed his broad, hairy breast on
which appeared-pricked in blue letters with
a hot needle, the name-CORCHUELO.
The general had ceased to laugh; but he
could not understand. I'm gentler voice he
asked:
But what do you want to give yourself
up for?''
My friends are dead, my wife Ii dead,
my child is dead-you killed them ALL
I've lost even the old rifle / thought so
much of. So l just said to myself; Here,
what's the good of living anyhow
Then there was a young shepherd who took
care of me when l was wounded. and who
wanted twenty napoleons to marry his
sweetheart, old Ferraguxza's daughter
Poor Juanillo, il you'd seen him when l
gave him the gold,-cried and kissed my
hand Asked me when was going away,
if expected TO meet my Dolores. told
him YES
Corchuelo ceased to speak, put his hands
in his pockets, and whistled.
In the morning he was identified by the
people of San Gael; and the general, greatly
affected by the pride and heroism OF the
man, summoned him to his presence and
said:
Listen, l am obliged to kill you II
had my own way, you rascal, / would send
you back to your mountains and your lib
erty. You are as grand as the revolution,
as grand as the EMPEROR But l am under
orderA You . soldier also-you under
stand that you must die. "
Corchuelo nodded and replied:
That's what came here for"
''Now, tell me II there's anything that I
can do for YOU" said the general lis
there anything which you would like me to
dos'
The bandit thought for q moment, and
then said:
Give me a loaded pistol; let me say my
prayers, and when you give the command
fire. Corchuelo will cease To- be Corchuelo.' -
The general looked at the man Nspo-
leon would have looked at Cesar as Leoni-
das would have looked at Hannibal. then
he replied:
1T shall be done -
In a few minutes all the troops left al
San Gael were mustered in the camp, and
drawn up in battle array before a hnlock
which arose in the center of the camping
ground. 1t was about d O'Clock in the
evening and the sun was sinking in the
horizon. Upon the hillock Corchuelo and
the general stood alone in attitudes which
seeme,i at that moment supernatural, So
much grandeur did the circumstances and
the character ii the man who was about to
die lend 10 the occasion
Not n soldier present moved; above the
immobilty of the men there moved only
, the steely saiver of the bayonets, which
the dying now ensanguined with his
, | red light. Corchuelo gazing at the
mountain where Juanillo was probably,
even at that instant, pressing to his heart
Dolores, the daughter OF old Ferraguzza.